No more codes: X1 Voice Remote works with your TV right out of the box

By Jonathan Palmatier

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December 6, 2016

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Anyone who has ever set up a new remote control to work with multiple devices knows it can be tricky. So we added a new feature to X1 that will automatically set up the X1 Voice Remote to work with customers’ televisions. That means X1 users can start searching and watching right away without hunting for special remote codes or fumbling with instructions.

For new X1 customers – or existing customers who may have just received one of our X1 Voice Remotes – X1 will now immediately detect the model of the television they are using and program the remote to control things like TV power, volume and input. Within seconds, X1 will display an on-screen message that the remote is ready to go.

We’ve received a lot of calls over the years from customers asking for help with setting up their remotes. With this technology, we can eliminate that step, and bring customers closer to the experiences they love.

Today, this feature works with both new X1 installations (making self installing even easier) and when customers add a new remote to an existing X1. In a future update, it will also be able to detect when an X1 customer installs a new television, automatically setting it up to work with the X1 Voice Remote. Devices must be connected by HDMI in order for the feature to work.

The voice remote is transforming how people experience X1:

There are more than 10 million X1 voice remotes in people’s homes nationwide.

X1 users speak more than 200 million voice commands every month, and we have processed more than a billion since we launched the Voice Remote last year.

The voice button can replace virtually all keypad functions, and even lets customers search for movies by saying catch phrases like "show me the money" or "life is like a box of chocolates."

As we continue to get those devices in as many customers’ hands as we can, we’re making setting up a new voice remote as easy as taking it out of the box, pressing the blue mic button and saying what you want to watch.